BOGOTA, Colombia — A cannon, three coins and a porcelain cup were among the first objects Colombian scientists recovered from the depths of the Caribbean Sea where the mythical Spanish galleon San José sank in 1708 after being attacked by an English fleet, authorities said Thursday.
The recovery is part of a scientific investigation that the government authorized last year to study the wreckage and the causes of the sinking. Colombian researchers located the galleon in 2015, leading to legal and diplomatic disputes. Its exact location is a state secret.
The ship is believed to hold 11 million gold and silver coins, emeralds and other precious cargo from Spanish-controlled colonies, which could be worth billions of dollars if ever recovered.
President Gustavo Petro’s government has said that the purpose of the deep-water expedition is research and not the treasure’s seizure.
Colombia’s culture ministry said in a statement Thursday that the cannon, coins and porcelain cup will undergo a conservation process at a lab dedicated to the expedition.
The wreckage is 600 meters (almost 2,000 feet) deep in the sea.
The prevailing theory has been that an explosion caused the 62-gun, three-masted galleon to sink after being ambushed by an English squadron. But Colombia’s government has suggested that it could have sunk for other reasons, including damage to the hull.
The ship has been the subject of a legal battle in the United States, Colombia and Spain over who owns the rights to the sunken treasure.
Colombia is in arbitration litigation with Sea Search Armada, a group of American investors, for the economic rights of the San José. The firm claims $10 billion corresponding to what they assume is worth 50% of the galleon treasure that they claim to have discovered in 1982.
